Thursday, December 6, 2007

Huzzah! My lurking on the internets has gotten me on the front page of a website! All be it a small website that only a few hardcore Metroid fans visit, but still, it's awesome! Check it out! (I'm CptTuke on the forums)

I found this on Destructoid, an artists mock up of what Super Metroid could look like if it was remade in HD, much like Street Fighter II HD.

Personally I got really excited, because I don't really post on the forums that often (though I've frequented them since about '98), and this is the first time I've got recognition for anything. Wouldn't it be awesome to be a regular contributor to something? Mmm, pseudo-journalism.

Well, until something else exciting (to me, anyway) happens, see you next mission!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Sunday, November 11, 2007

I swear it! Umm... Hello there. Care for some tea? So yeah, not dead. Just... Occupied. Shall we try and play catch up? Here goes.

Well, I made a new video a bit ago, you can check it out on my videos page if you like. Umm, what else...

We went to Ozzy, that was pretty awesome. The opening act was ok. They sounded good instrumentally, but I couldn't stand the singer. Rob Zombie was pretty good. Doesn't help I really only know two Rob Zombie songs though. Ozzy was great. The band was good (20 minute guitar solo!) And Ozzy was looking better than ever. And he seemed very happy to be here too, even though he couldn't even try to pronounce Saskatoon (It's ok, we'll worship him anyway). Overall this has been a pretty great year for concerts. I've seen BNL, Weird Al, Ozzy... Ok so that's all I've seen, but they were all awesome and some of my favourite artists. So it's win win. What's next...

I need to not keep putting these updates off, I can never remember what's going on.

School is going pretty good, though I've missed a couple assignments that I need to get crackin' on. I'm really enjoying all my classes. I've written a couple midterms, History and Archaeology, and both went really well. Now I just need to get these papers written and I'm set.

We got a new manager at work. She's alright, but I like Athula better. We're pretty sure they forced him out, but he works at the Midtown Source now, so worse comes to worse I'm sure I could work there if I wanted to, he'd probably hire me.

Seen a few movies lately. Can't remember most of them. We went to see Saw IV, though. I thought it was dumb. But I've never really seen the others and I'm told that helps. We also sat Dan in Real Life. That I really liked. Go see it. And take someone with you, someone you like. That's my advice as to that.

In other news I've found a new webcomic I really like. It's called XKCD. And it has to be the most intelligent webcomic I've ever read. If you like web comics, or to read things that are fairly intelligent, or just because, then go check it out. I said so and that should be good enough. Other than that I can't really think of anything else to say. I really should do this less not often. Maybe then I'll remember what's going on. Though I'm sure I'll post updates as I remember what's gone one. Anyhow. Cheers!

Monday, September 24, 2007

I've got allot to write about. I just got back from camping yesterday and have quite the tale to tell. But I don't feel like typing that much right now, so I'll share this with you. I got between classes today and made this comic with my handy dandy MacBook. Enjoy!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Salad seems to have gotten a strange reputation. It's food, but it appears that allot of people don't think of it as "real food". To many people, it's what comes before the food. A preview from the kitchen. A sign that whoever is in charge has a clue what their doing. But not "real food". Since it comes before the "real food", it can't really fill you up at all, should it? So, salad, then, is something light, something that won't really do anything for your hunger, something that gets you ready for the real food. Right?

I don't think so. And I think there are more people starting to think this way as well. Salad is "real food". It always has been. I like salad. I just finished eating salad for a late evening supper. Some might think, "Well he had a salad because he doesn't want to get filed up before he goes to bed". Well, that's why I ate a small salad. But I ate a salad for a few main reasons. For one it tastes great. A simple salad has two typical parts to it. The greens, and the dressing. And you need to have both, and you can't get stingy on either. Use good greens. Fresh lettuce, maybe even two kinds. Maybe some onions for a little bite, green or red are very nice. Tomatoes for some nice variety, maybe even some yellow or red peppers to mix it up a bit. You don't have to get overly complex, keep it simple. But don't be afraid to get creative. Try some fresh nuts, or some mandarin oranges.

Then there's the dressing. Some say it's the most important part, but without the greens you've got no salad, so I would say they're both equally as important. But, use a sub par dressing, or one that you just plain don't like, and you won't want anymore than just a few mouthfulls. Different occasions can call for diferent dressings. A dressing is what can really give the salad i's character. Sometimes you're in the mood for something lite. How about a nice vinigarette? Even vinigar and oil. But say you're in the mood for something a bit heavier, something that will stick to your insides for a little bit longer and keep you satisfied for a few hours. A heavier cream dressing could be in order, thousand island or maybe even a smooth California dressing. But be sure to choose something that compliments your greens. If you're using exotic greens, like water chestnuts and maybe some sliced almonds, don't use something simple like oil and vinegar. Try a raspberry vinegarette. Perhaps a French onion cream dressing.

Salad can be complex. It can be simple. It can be anything you want it to be. But be assured, a good salad can leave you more than satisfied. Some say it comes before the food. I say it is the food. Salad is surely a prime example of a universal food. You can make it out of almost anything, and every culture around the world has it's own localization of salad. Surely something this widespread can't be something that isn't "real food". Sure, it's more food than some can handle in a single sitting.

He sure was! Last night was we went to see Blue Man Group at Sask Place (I still refuse to call it Credit Union Centre. I don't care what the sign says.), and holy crap was that allot of fun. Blue Man is awesome. Just freakin' awesome. If you ever have a chance to see Blue Man, go. And go again and again. I've watched Blue Man on PBS before, and it's always been pretty cool, but it's something completely different to see it live. The music is fantastic, it's got great humour, and it's highly entertaining. Nuts to the professor stuff, I'm going to be a Blue Man.

And for anyone who's never seen Blue Man before, here's a nice clip to give you a feel. Even if you've seen them before, watch it anyways. It's fun.

Friday, September 14, 2007

First things first. I apologize for the bad Superman reference. Now that that's out of the way...

Well, I think I've settled into the new MacBook, and I'm really loving I'm so far. I'm still working on the best way to take notes with it, but I think I've got it figured out and it's allot easy than me trying to listen while I attempt to write things down on paper. I'm not good at that. But typing is OK. But enough about the fantastically awesome MacBook that I'm typing on right now. Did I mention it's awesome? I hope so!!

Anyway. Ham and I are talking again, which I'm really happy about. I won't go into details, but lets just say that we talked about things, and we're both much happier now. Those who know what I'm talking about have undoubtedly heard the story of what happened before, and I don't feel like typing it all out again. Needless to say, everything is OK now, and we're awesome again.

In other new, Riley managed to get us tickets to see Ozzy! He got up extra early (for him anyway) today to join the official Ozzy fan-club this morning, and upon joining he got a pre-sale promo code so we could get tickets a day early. All hail row twelve! OZZY!! You can't beat that. I mean, Ozzy may be getting pretty old and decrepit, but it's freakin' Ozzy! C'mon!!!

Well, I've about run out of things to say for now. School is going well so far. I'm enjoying English and archaeology so far, and history is OK too, though it seems like it will be the most wok (I've already got to write a short paper about the Black Death for Tuesday. Biggest problem right ow is that I don't have a textbook. I got the wrong one at first (Well, not wrong. Just not right.) And after I returned it I found out that they're all sold out of the one that I need. So for now I'm on a list for when they get them in so that they'll call me. Hopefully it'll soon.

But anyways. I'm going to take off now. Catchya next time! (hurrah for taking other peoples sign-offs.).

Monday, September 10, 2007

It's here! The MacBook is here! And how awesome is it? In a word, crazy awesome. Yes that's two words, but as we've gone over before, it's just that good. So sleek and sexy. I've not officially joined the cult of Apple. And you know what that means? More Apple stickers! Well, besides that, it also means that I've got my laptop for school, as well as a sexy black MacBook, and even less importantly, I've got all the free tools I need to try and get my podcast going. So hopefully we can start to see that soon, possibly a vlog will be started tonight that will show up here from the magic land of YouTube. Who knows. Oh well, time to keep getting things set up. And I'm hungry, so I think I'll get some food. Good day, eh?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Well then. Been busy for the past little bit. At least I think I have. I'm not sure...But anyway, lets try and recap what's happened in the past little bit, shall we?

Things for school seem to be going along nicely. I've pretty much got the loans straitened out, and I've got a vague idea of where I'm supposed to go next Monday, the first day of orientation. After that I'll have to check into it a little farther. But we'll see how it goes. I'm getting rather excited to start school again. During high school I really didn't do much of anything, and didn't really have much of a work ethic or any motivation at all to apply myself. But since I've been out of high school for the past couple years, I've really gotten a want to learn again, so I think I'll do pretty OK. I don't think I'm going to do fantastic right away, but hey, I'll probably pick up some cool bits of knowledge.

It was my birthday last week. Yup, the big 20. To celebrate I rallied some troops and went to the Yard and Flagon on Broadway and had a few pints. I'd say it was a pretty good time. More people came by than I expected, but one person I was hoping to see couldn't make it. Oh well, maybe we'll be able to catch up another time. Anyway, Riley, Dan, Jeff, Brent, Aaron and I all got to the Yard at about the same time, and had a few pints before Nate made it over, then we had another. Shortly after Jeff, Brent, and Aaron had to take off, Andy stopped by as well. Not long after, Nick., Braden, and Kendra made their way up and we had another pint. I love Guinness, even more when I don't have to pay for it. The night went well, and after everyone but Nate, Riley, Andy, and I dispersed, we decided to go shoot some pool so we headed over to The Snooker Shak and had some fun there before calling it a night. I really enjoyed myself and hopefully we can do it again soon, or at least maybe I'll know more people to go for beers with once I start school. Who knows!

My parents 25th wedding anniversary was also this week (the 28th), so we went out to The Samurai for dinner. That was super tasty. I think it's awesome. Expensive though. Maybe someday I'll be able to take someone nice on a date there. I tried real sushi for the first time too, and I was really surprised. I didn't really know what to expect., but I really liked it. It doesn't taste at all fishy, and it's actually rather sweet.

I also picked up BioShock last week, and it's really cool. It's got an interesting story which I'm not too far into and won't really go into, and it looks just amazing. But I'll have to play more of it later, because Collin got me Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for my birthday. And I have one word for it. Crazy Awesome (Yeah I know that's two words, but it's just that awesome). I love Metroid. I've always loved Metroid since I first started playing it with Metroid II and then Super Metroid. It's easily my favorite video game franchise, and I'm even tossing around the idea of a Metroid themed tattoo as well (Not just because I love Metroid, it's also symbolic for me as well). And I have to say. Metroid Prime 3 may very well be my second favourite Metroid game ever. First being Super Metroid, but I don't think anything can dethrone it for a very long time, if ever. The controls in Prime 3 are just plane excellent. In short, they just work. So far most attempts at a first person game for the Wii has been very shotty and unnatural. But Prime 3 did it right. It's smooth and intuitive, and truly feels natural. The music is excellent, the sound effects are top notch, and the art direction is fantastic. And in a series first, the game also features several characters and has a full voice acting cast, and they can actually act and are engaging characters. Personally I don't think there's going to be a better single player Wii experience for quite a while.

Other than that there really hasn't been a whole lot going on. Work is going well. We're hiring right now since I'll be going to part time starting next week, and Athula (My boss) keeps saying that the girls he talks to on the phone to schedule and interview sound very pretty and that I'll jump out of my pants when I see them. Whatever that means. So anyone who might be looking for a place to get some money, come down to The Source in Market Mall with a resume and maybe you can be forced to spend more time with my standing around welling batteries to old people.

Well I think this has gone on long enough, and I'm running out of things to say anyway. So I think I'll call it a night and good day. Oh, and for those of you wondering, the picture there is of me looking surprised at once of my birthday gifts. My brother also game me some bubble wrap. I gave it to him for his birthday, and now he's giving it to me. I guess we started a new tradition! Oh well. Until next time!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

I just got home from seeing The Bourne Ultimatum. And I have to say, I really enjoyed myself. I never say the first two in theatres (at least I'm pretty sure I didn't...), but I know I watched them on the movies channels, and I really like them.

Ultimately, I think that The Bourne Supremacy is the best of the three (but it's pretty common that the middle chapter of a trilogy be strongest, ala Empire), but Ultimatum was still very very good, bringing a nice close to the trilogy (Both the director Doug Limen and Matt Damon have expressed a strong wish to keep it a trilogy and not adapt the remaining two novels, though it could happen. You never know), but still leaves you wanting more. Hopefully this want for more will cause people to read the novels, but who knows.

The film shares the same pacing, excellent writing, and riveting camera work as the previous films do, and that's a fantastic thing. The Bourne films have never felt too fast, too slow, to chaotic or too dull. The cast and crew do a marvellous job of making the world and story very believable and engrossing, and as with the last films there wasn't a moment I didn't have my eyes on the screen watching intently trying to take in everything I could. In my opinion, the Bourne films have been nearly a masterwork in film making. Nearly everything is spot on all of the time, the fight choreography is fantastic, the sounds and lighting are highly immersive, and the characters truly come alive. There is scarcely a film these days that can make you care for a single character as much as one could care for Bourne. After all, he just wants to know who he is. And in the end, isn't that what we all want?

Thursday, August 2, 2007

World War Hulk launched in June and yesterday I picked up the first three issues (One for every month, the 5th and last coming out on October) and I have to see it's really really good.

It's been a really long time since I've been into comics (Ever since that whole clone thing with Spider-Man), but with all the comic movies out these days, and since free comic book day, I've been getting back into comics. Mostly I've been picking up random issues of random books, with a few trade paperbacks here and there (Spawn mostly, but also Marvel Civil War). But I picked up World War Hulk and it's probably the best book I've read in a long time.

The break down: Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Reed Richards and Black Bolt shot Hulk into space to get him off earth because he was basically causing too much collateral damage. He landed on a planet somewhere (and became king) so they sent some missiles after him and blew up the planet, including his queen wife. Now he's back on earth and madder than ever. That means he's STRONGER than ever, and he's looking for revenge.

The art is fantastic. The writing is topper than top notch, and it's a massive event spreading 5 core issues and 32 other tie ins (32!) and I'm really thinking of collecting them all. I'd recommend anyone who's liked comics to check it out, and maybe those who don't so much but like a good story. Definitely some great quality work going on here.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I love Weird Al (In a totally heterosexual he's an awesome music dude kinda way). I'm sure you love Weird Al. You find me someone who doesn't like Weird Al and I'll show you a fruit from Guatemala. Anyways. Weird Al came here to little 'ol Saskatoon on the 26th and Riley and I were awesomely lucky enough to go. 2nd row, isle seats just off centre of the stage. What could be better than that (Well besides front row centre)? Not much. And on top of all that, it was freaking awesome. Weird Al Yankovic has got to be one of the best live performers of the generation. He sounds fantastic live (Not something you can say about many acts anymore), the show is super funny (He goes through more costume changes than Cher), he knows how to please the crowed, the band is awesome as well, and did I mention he's Weird Freaking Al? C'mon!

He played a great set of songs. New songs, old songs, everyone's favourites. From Yoda, to Fat, to Canadian Idiot and Close But No Cigar. But what topped it all off? His encore. He finished the show by playing Albuquerque. All 11 minutes of it. And what made the whole concert that much more fun, in between costume changes (Since it takes a few minutes to get alot of that stuff on), bits and clips and interviews from Al TV are played on the triple wide screen projectors. hilarious interviews with folks like Jessica Simpson, Eminem, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Avril Lavigne, even Celine Dion and Madonna.

I definitely would say that Weird Al is the second most fun I've had at a concert (Barenaked Ladies reign supreme so far) and if you EVER have a chance to go see him, GO. We even got some neat Weird Al dollars that shot out of a canon. Go us!

Anyway, I've got alot of Weird Al to listen to as I feel all happy and such...Toodles!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

I love playing Guitar Hero. It was the first game I got for my PS2 (Which I purchased in a bit of a stupor), and I've loved it ever since I got it. And with Guitar Hero III, and Rock Band on their way near the end of this year, I think I'll be a very happy boy when I get to play them for myself (Especially Rock Band). And in an effort to continue Guitar Hero's success, Activision announced earlier this year an pseudo expansion to Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's. When I first heard about it, I was over joyed. I <3 the 80's as much as the next hippie (Well maybe more, I'm not sure how many hippies really like the 80's that much, but I sure do). From great 80's movies, to TV, to music.

Today I played Rock the 80's at Future Shop for the first time. I played 'I Ran' by A Flock of Seagulls. Normally I'll play a new song on medium so I can get the rhythm down, but I was feeling a little adventurous today, so I thought I would try hard as to give myself a little challenge. Well, I never really found that challenge. I played through it like it was on easy. But hey, maybe I'm better than I used to be? But anyways, we went to find it on the shelf to see how much it was, and Riley and I were rather shocked to see it priced at $60. Well, we won't be picking that up today, maybe we'll go rent it instead. So we went to High Tech and rented it, brought it back and proceeded start playing through career mode. Wasn't much harder than 'I Ran' was at Future Shop, and I have good controllers, unlike at Future Shop where half the buttons don't work.

We also noticed a few other things. Other than the 30 new songs (Which is about half as many as Guitar Hero II had), there basically isn't anything new at all. And is some cases there's even less than in Guitar Hero II (Besides the song count). The main characters have received some minor 80's styling, as have the menus (Queue the neon paint), but other than that it looks exactly the same. From the rest of the band to the crowd to the venues, they're all exactly the same as before. Well, there was a neon beach ball in the high school. That's it. There are also less playable characters than before, with the Grim Reaper being the only one. And Stone Henge is also not included, which is a bummer because that's easily my favourite venue. Oh, and all the unlockable guitars are the same ones from Guitar Hero II, there's nothing new there either. And there are no unlockable songs either, just the 30 from career mode.

So what do we have so far? Guitar Hero II with a thin coat of paint, half the songs, fewer characters, fewer venues, the same unlockable guitars, no unlockable songs, all for a $60 dollar price point, the same as to buy Guitar Hero on it's own (Without a controller) when it was new. For $60, it's a bit of a rip off. At $30 this would have been a great deal.

After coming to these conclusions, I also started reading some reviews and checking out what other sites on the Net had to say about Rock The 80's. It was all pretty much the same thing. So for my money, I'm glad I rented it and didn't buy it. I'll wait until it's $30-$40 before I shell out. But that's just me. I know a few people who won't mind paying $60 for what is basically $30 of content just because they love Guitar Hero that much, but I'll wait.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Speacial thanks to Terry, last week he told me that The Source was looking for someone to pick up about 15 hours of shifts a week and that I should go down and drop off a resume or something. So I did, and on Friday I had me an interview and all went well. On Monday we went for some paintballing for Mike's birthday (Which was awesome), and on Tuesday they called me again to sign some papers so I could start!

Wednesday Riley, Ham and I went to see The Tragically Hip (Also quite awesome), and today was my first day working at The Source.

So how did it go? Pretty well I'd say. I'm trying to learn how not to suck at it, and I'm sure it'll come along. The hardest part right now is using the computer to make transactions, I can never remember what I'm supposed to press to make it bend to my will. Other than that it isn't too bad, and I'm looking forward to finally making some monies again. Hooray! Anyways, my arms are cold, so I'm going to take off.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Yes, in a word, crazy awesome. "But that's two words, Steve!" That's right, but that's how awesome it is. It defies rules. Those of us who loved the transformers as kids have grown up (Well at least a little, on the outside anyways), and while many of our childhood favorites haven't, Transformers finally has. Like us, it's now bigger, louder, and knows how to kick some ass.

Though the perspective of the film changed from that of the robots themselves to the humans caught in between their conflict, that only makes it that much greater. When we were kids it was all about giant robots beating each other up, and it still is. But like I said, it's matured just as we have, and we also are shown the human side of things as we're stuck in the middle of this outer worldly conflict, and the true scale of things become greatly apparent.

Go see Transformers. Go see it 10 minutes ago, and tell me that you're going, I'll go too. Transformers deserves my attention for more than just the 2 1/2 hours it took to watch it. Watch it again and again, and then go get some toys and geek out with glee. Go now!

Monday, July 2, 2007

My Radium video is complete and should be ready for viewing very soon! HURRAH!

Update: Ok, never mind. The video is too long for YouTube, so I'll have to do a bit more work to it and probably split it into 4 parts. Hopefully it will be done soon!

UPDATE update: Ok, MySpace just got some handy points because they let super long videos be not not allowed. Woot. So there it is! The trip in a drippy nutshell! Enjoy! (No making fun of the bad job I did, it was my first time, leave my virgin mistakes alone)

UPDATE UPDATE update: Ok, so maybe this isn't working either, the video seems to get cut off. Maybe it just needs more time to process. I'm still working on it. I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!!!! Update: Ok, so I split the video in half and it's processing right now. I've got part 1 up above and I'll put part 2 just below this. Damnit this better work this time!

All of my Radium pictures are up and ready for the viewing! I'm working on getting all the videos edited together with nice transitions and inappropriate comments and star wipes. I'm pretty sure I won't be done any of that tonight, so maybe tomorrow. Tah tah!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Well we got back from Radium last night at 3AM (Long story more suited for conversation than blogging) and I've got some pictures and some video to get up. The trip was pretty fun. Could have been better but could have been allot worse.

Anyway, I'll get all the pictures up and get all the video put together (In theory I'll have a full video log entry, and it'll be my first). See ya soonish!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Hello again! Well, last weekend was Father's Day, just like every year, and like most years my dad and I went to the Leoville ATV rally. And, like most years, it was loads of fun. We headed up Friday afternoon with the Wolverine and my dad's new machine, the Rhino (A side-by-each type machine that'll pretty much drive through anything). We camped out in the yard of probably one of the nicest guys around, Arnie (No idea his last name), and that evening Casey proceeded to become a champion at beersbee.

On Saturday we went for a really nice ride, great weather, great trails. Not anything overly notable or troublesome except that at one small mud hole, only about a foot long but taking up the width of the trail, I was going a bit too fast and the winch on my machine dug into the far side and while the machine stopped, I didn't. Ended up bashing my thy really really hard into my handlebar grip, and now I've got a bruise the size of a 40 calibre paint ball. That and the Wolverine decided it didn't want to run at all when it's wet. Oh, and the Rhino kinda caught on fire. Just some dry grass wrapped around the axle, but flamage did occur.

Sunday, on the other hand, wasn't so nice. From the start of the day it was raining and cold. We should have known that nothing good could come from that. First thing that happened was that the Wolverine still wasn't running right, and to top it off the brakes weren't working very well either, so I decided to ride in the Rhino with dad (which itself ended up being alot of fun). But the Rhino didn't want to play nice either, trying to head out on the grid road the rev limiter kept kicking in and we couldn't go faster than 40Kph. But that eventually worked its way out.

After that everything seemed like smooth sailing. Though it was raining just right that you couldn't see anything with your goggles on. So off go the goggles! Jace managed to get his Rhino right stuck in one of the first mud holes and incapacitate it as well (Temporarily though) And it was quite a while longer before anything else unwelcome happen. Near the end of the rally our radiator was so packed with mud that we were constantly overheating on the open roads. Shortly after that our muffler fell off. Hooray! Worse yet, on one of the last small mud holes, the spark plug wire on Jimmy's Grizzly broke off, so we got him hooked up to be towed behind John's brand new Rzr. Shortly after that, however, the transmission in the Rzr kinda...Well, blew up. And to top it off, heading back to town at the end of the rally, 10Km too us over an hour to do because we were overheating so badly. What a day!

That's pretty much the weekend. As for other things, I've been invited to go on the road trip to Radium BC, which I'm really looking forward to. We'll be heading up next Wednesday, and coming back on the 30th (I think), which means I'll still be good to go to the Transformers premier on the 4th! Hooray!

Anyways, that about wraps it up for now. We went and say Mr. Brooks tonight, which was really good, and I'll talk about later. Until next time, [Insert clever statement here]

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

I came up to Tisdale last Saturday to help Jeff move. Three hours drives are fun. Moving was ok though, except for the big couch. That sucked. But other than that, 'twas fun. Check out the video tour of his new pad down below! Aren't I great at videoing? That's what I thought.

In related stories, a house randomly fell down in Tisdale. Notice the sign that has been put on the rubble in the photo above. Check out my Flickr album for a larger shot of the whole thing. Aren't camera's fun? (I need to get me one someday. Someday when I'm making monies.) Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll be heading back to Saskatoon tomorrow, and Matt tells me there is to be BBQ at his place on Saturday. Hurrah for Matt! Anyways...Hmm, I need to find some sort of little catch phrase to say at the end of these things. Send suggestions!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Everyone loves BBQ. Even those wacky vegetarians. So lets have some on Sunday! (BBQ that is, not vegetarians. That could get weird.) So grab your meat (Meat for cooking, you hobo, not THAT meat) and some drink of your choice (Enough to share!) and come on down! Also be sure that if your meat of choice needs bun buddies, bring them too. Just send me an e-mail so I'll know you're coming. And remember, no shirt, no shoes, yes service! (Just don't expect good service). Hurrah!

On another note, I fixed my computer (Again, somehow I killed Window's ability to locate wireless networks), but it looks like I'll want to reinstall Windows again, since I seem to only be able to get online using 3rd party software. Anyone with a 64-bit Windows XP disc, I need it! (This meens you Terry!)

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Monday, May 7, 2007

F:\> Friday, May 4th. SPIDER-MAN DAY!!! Hurrah and woot woot! Ah, the premier of Spider-Man 3. Not only did we pick up our tickets a week early, but we also made extra sure to get there over an hour early. And it's a good thing we did, too. The lineup for screen 1 was all the way to the women's washroom when we got there ("Excuse me, is this the end of the lineup for Spider-Man?" "I think so, I just hope it's not the beginning of the line for the bathroom") And who else was waiting in line for the movie? Non other than Spider-Man himself! I mean really, if you're going to dress up as Spider-Man for the premier, I think you deserve at least a cookie, if not a slice of cantaloupe.

And how was the movie, you ask? Freaking fantastic! Anyone doubting it's awesomeness needs to be stepped on my a slightly overweight middle aged geek. Or poked with a 9 1/2 foot pole, whichever you decide. I don't think there was a moment of the film I didn't enjoy, and I know for sure that part I loved the most was the scene with everyone's favourite A-list B-movie star, Mr. Bruce Campbell. I can only hope that Tobie stays on for a fourth instalment, and the same goes for Sam Raimi, the way he makes films just seems to fit so well with Spider-Man.

The other best thing about Spider-Man 3? Awesome popcorn buckets at Galaxy. But I don't buy popcorn. No problem! "I wounder if anyone left their bucket behind." "Probably not" "Hey look a glow stick!" "Uh, Steve?" "Hey a bucket!" Woot for a bucket, and it's full of popcorn too! So, to the garbage to dump it out. And what do we find next to the garbage? Another bucket of course! Woot x 2! Walking toward the front door, and what do we find?! Another bucket! Are we awesome or what! But that's not all we found! As we walk toward the Jeep, guess what we find! Not another bucket! Instead, we find a nice parking ticket sitting on my windshield.

Apparently when you put $1 into the ticket machine to park at the theatre, you can only stay for an hour. What the deuce, eh? So I get a ticket because my little card expired. The two lots that are both accross the street from Galaxy are run by the same company, and they don't have the 1 hour for $1 sign, it's $1 for like 5 hours (something like that). Ok, so I didn't read all of the sign. But guess how much the ticket is going to cost. $67. $31 if I pay it within a week. They claim it's to cover lost revenue for the time I was parked there. I was there for about 3 1/2 hours. I'd like to see them collect $67 for 1 parking space over three hours. But anyway...

S:\> Saturday, May 5th. FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!! Quite possibly the third most wonderful time of the year. Not only are there free comic books, but there's also some really cool people to meet. Like the guys behind White Ninja Comics. Not only are they incredibly funny when writing ridiculous comics strips, they're also rather (quite) amusing in person as well. And talk about nice? C'mon! It's almost inhuman (Canadian, even)! In addition to those two cool cats, there were also a couple full time, big time comic book artist there as well, drawing your favourite comic book character for a mere $20 (all proceeds were donated to charity of course, those cheap bastards don't need the monies), as long as your favourite character isn't Spawn, The Maxx, or The Tick (REFERENCE!!). I also picked up Marvel Civil War, and Civil War: Wolverine, because Civil War was awesome and I wanted to own it, and I want to get all the related trade paperbacks for it, and Wolverine seemed the perfect place to start. I also got the first issue of what is quite possibly the best comic book of all time, Pirates Vs Ninjas. C'mon! You can't beat that!

S:\> Sunday, May 6th. Jeff's in town, so what do you think we go do? See Spider-Man of course! Still just as great, but I'm the only one who cheered for Bruce. We also found an out of order sign on one of the chairs, so we put it in between the two of us. Then we move the sign to the seat next to Jeff. The two of us ended up taking up 5 spots. Ah, what room. And after the movie end and we let every one leave, guess what we find? Two more buckets! Really, we kick major but.

M:\> Happy Monday! Jeff's birthday. Cove+BBQ+another movie. This time it's The Condemned. It's actually something I was looking forward to seeing, starring everyone's favourite pro wrastler. Steve Williams (Steve Austin, as most people recognize him). And I'd say I really enjoyed it. Good fights, good explosions, and good 'ol Steve kickin' some butt. Thumbs up from me.

Edit: Oh yeah. One more thing. According to this, I'm in collage. I thought I was just acting natural! I'm a shoe in!

Edit edit: Holy crap that was long! I'll break up posts from now on, I swear! (Maybe)

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

And that really didn't take very long, did it? There's a new magic number in town, and it's not 3 this time. 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0.

P.S.: As of right now, there's about 6 or 7 full pages of Digg.com that are entirely Diggs of the number, hopefully things get back to normal soon so I can have my regular flow of constant useless news and information back.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Unless of course it's friends with beer. Or beer with friends. Either way, you're in good hands.

So last Friday was the last day of finals for a few of my more edumicated compadres, so to celebrate we had a minor get together. Starting with a little Battlefield fun down at the Cove with Matt and Terry, we headed down to the Keg with a gift card that Terry "found" that had a whole $60 on it. Mmm, tasty. Gotta love rib eye steaks and beer. From there we went and grabbed Mike, who wasn't in the best of shape after not doing too well on one of his finals (Don't worry Mike, we know you're awesome), and it's off to Bailey's!

First time I've been to Bailey's,it's a pretty nice looking place on the inside. But what's this business where they make you check your bunny hug? Pfft! So a round of Kokanie later Mike's more than a little tipsy, and I've got a nice Guinness buzz going. Another pint later and Mike's a little MORE than a little more than tipsy. But he found the bathroom! A schooner later and I think he's about had it. And he wondered off.... For like 20 minutes and we have no idea where he went, so we just stay where we are with a couple of Terry's pharmaceuticals friends (Nice peoples) and eventually Mike comes back.

Long story short, a trip outside and a confrontation with a bouncer later Riley and Dan make their way over to enjoy the funness that is whatever we're doing, and a schooner later (for Riley this time, we cut Mike off good), we're all singing and having a grand 'ol time.

Soon enough though, we're on our ways home. I gave Matt, Terry, and Mike rides home and then headed over to Riley's to watch Tron for the first time. I love Tron. Tron kicks ass. I should have watched it way sooner. Next on my list: Dune and Blade Runner.

All in all, definitely a fun night, and I'm looking forward to doing it again. And I think Matt owes me a campus tour...An EPIC campus tour! Mwahahaha!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

So, about 2 weeks ago I went down to the University to see if their dental and orthodontic students would work on my head (Which went pretty well by the way, looks like there's a good chance they will), I also stopped by the Admissions building (Handy folks) and got some information about enrolling for learning in the fall. Got my transcripts and everything into them, and about a week ago got a letter from them!

Dear Steven,Sorry bud, you missed getting a grade 12 science. You lose at life. Or do you?

That is to say, I don't. Though I'm deficient a grade 12 science (Technically a natural science or a fine art), there's a very handy program called the Arts and Science Transition program. It's set up for students with a grade 12 average over between about 70 and 60 (I think), or those who are deficient a class (That's me!). So in light of this new discovery we took another trip down to Mr. Humbert at Walter Murray. He thinks that this program is the best thing since boxed pie crust (Much better than sliced bread, for the record), and wishes that everyone HAD to go though this for a year before going head first into higher learning.

Basically, program is the full fledged Arts and Sciences program, but for the year you can only take up to 18 credits (The minimum to be a full-time student), and you also take a class called Campus Life 101 (The class is open to everyone, but it costs $50 normally and is optional, where it will be free for me and I have to take it) that teaches you all sorts of handy things, like how to properly write essays (Something I suck at) and how to write papers and do other collagey things. The program is also supposed to have some of the best proffs teaching in it, which kicks big butt. Best part is, with this as my first year of University, the second year is right onto the main campus and I can pretty much do anything from there. Higher learning here I come!

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

I've loved the Barenaked Ladies since I was but a wee lad. I was even lucky enough to go see them in concert in February (Fourth row for the win! Take THAT Matt!). And I think I'll keep on loving them (In a totally platonic heterosexual kind of way) until either they're long dead or I fall into a bottomless pit. They're just so damned fun. And here's a fun video I found on YouTube.

You know how on YouTube there's always those people who set up their little webcams and play their favourite song from their favourite band? Ever wondered what it would look and sound like if the professionals did it? And what if those professionals were Naked Ladies? I think that's asking for greatness!

Definitely one of the more notable things I've seen come up on Digg. Definitely need to check this out!"Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, Mega Man, Castle-Vania and most of the other classic Nintendo titles playable directly in the browser without download. Gotta digg this!"

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Everyone hates hangovers. And everyone seems to have some sort of trick to getting rid of them. Well, most of them don't work. So rather than finding a cure for a hangover, why not try and lessen the blow a bit? No, I don't mean stop drinking, where's the fun in that? Lets get drinks that don't cause as bad a hangover! Hooray!

Clear Alcohols with Water Based Mixers: Clear alcohols (Vodka, Gin, Light Rum, etc.) have less hangover causing Congeners, and water based mixers will lessen dehydration.

Drinks that Contain Vitamin B6: Bananas contain Vitamin B6 and B12, which are known to help reduce hangovers. Bananas are also high in Potassium, which is depleted from alcohol consumption.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Saturday, March 24, 2007

I love the Ninja Turtles. If there's one thing that will put an end to the pirates VS ninjas arguments, it's them. I've loved them since I was a kid (And being the hyperactive little thing I was you can only imagine what I would do after watching a Turtles cartoon). From figures to comics to movies, I had a butt load of the green related stuff (Most of which I've lost, which makes me want to cry).

Now, most of the new Ninja Turtles productions have been rather crappy. From the live action TV show they made where they tried a lady turtle, to the new cartoon (Who's visual style I REALLY like, but still sucks because it's pretty badly written and uninteresting). So when I first heard they were making a new turtles movie, well I was a little worried. More excited than worried though. Extremely excited. Last night it premiered in theatres. Last night the Turtles rocked our socks. zOMG I love the Turtles....Still.

The visual style of the film is just fantastic. It's really reminiscent of the comics, and it's incredibly well animated (And I always find myself picking apart CG films from a visual standpoint). The voice acting is top notch, even going so far as to have the actor who played Leonardo in the original film back as Leo again (Even if Sarah Michelle Gellar did the voice for April...Ok she did a good job I'll admit it). And though I thought that the story would be so dumb we would love it only because the Heroes in a Half Shell were in it, even the story kicked ass. It even has continuity with the other three films. <3.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The highly rumoured NiGHTS has been confirmed by both Nintendo and SEGA. They will be releasing, not NiGHTS into dreams, but an official sequel to the game developed for the Wii. Fans of the now original NiGHTS game shouldn’t dismiss the probability of seeing our jester attired friend from appearing in the Virtual Console library soon.

The aim of the game is the make the graph planar by moving about the vertices, i.e. no edges intersect. There is an algorithm in graph theory that will construct a planar equivalent except the lines that join the vertices don't have to be straight. Here the lines are forced to be straight which adds to the complexity. Click read more and check it out!

Everyone loves the Super Mario theme. But did you know there's lyrics! Aparently it's called Go Go Mario. It's sung in Japanses (The video is from the Big Band Mario and Zelda performance from Japan).

Go Go Mario

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, runningGo save Princess Peach! Go!Today, full of energy, Mario runsToday, full of energy, jumping!Today, full of energy, searching for coinsToday, keep going, Mario!

Get a mushroom - it's Super Mario!Get a flower - it's Fire Mario!

Goomba! Troopa! Buzzy Beetle! Beat them all!Mario is always full of energy and strong!

[Spoken] The only one who can reverse the spell that has captured the Mushroom People is Princess Peach. But Princess Peach is hidden underground, in a far-off castle. Ah, the days of peace... if we could once more return to those days... to save Princess Peach and bring peace back to the Mushroom Kingdom, that is why Mario is on his journey today.

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, runningGo and beat the Koopa tribe, go!Today, full of energy, Mario runsToday, full of energy, jumping!Today, full of energy, searching for coinsToday, keep going, Mario!

Get a star - become invincible!Quickly, go save Princess Peach!

Lakitu! Blooper! Cheep Cheep! Beat them all!Mario is always full of energy and strong!

Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, runningHe's made it to the castle and gets fireworks!Lightly sidestepping the Hammer Bros.Show the last of your power, Mario!It's been a long journey but it's nearly at an endYou've done it, you've done it! You've defeated Bowser!

Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favourite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs.

We created Pandora so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you.

Pandora is a music discovery service designed to help you enjoy music you already know, and to help you discover new music you'll love.

It's powered by the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken, the Music Genome Project: a crazy project started back in early 2000 to capture the complex musical DNA of songs using a large team of highly-trained musicians.

Just tell us one of your favorite songs or artists and we'll launch a streaming station to explore that part of the musical universe."

I found this really cool site today called Pandora. (I have since been proclaimed Captain Cool by Nick because of it. Hurrah!) Pandora is a great example of what the Internet is becoming, and how web 2.0 is changing the way we think of the Internet. Pandora is alot like an Internet radio station. But instead of listening some someone's play list or something like that, Pandora asks you to input an artist or song name, and then uses it's Music Genome to find and play songs and artists similar to what you put in, and helps you find new artists, songs, and sometimes even musical styles that hopefully you'll like. I approve!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

St. Patrick's Day is fun. Mostly because it's fun watching drunk people. And drinking is fun too, but mostly watching drunk people. We went to Flatlander's for St. Patrick's Day this year. Got ourselves a couple of titanics of brew (A titanic is a 4L pitcher of beer for those that don't know), and I think that Great Western Black is now my favorite Canadian beer. Guinness is still my #1 for now though, followed by Kilkenny. Mmmm Mmmm good. And Ham got himself snickerdoodled (As he likes to call it). Good times.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Well, tonight was to be my St. Practice day toast. And I made the toast. But only one other person heard it. No one came but me and Riley. I was expecting at least one other person, but there was no one. Well, that's not entirely true. Nick did come at about 9:30. He didn't have any money and therefor had no intention of drinking at all, but at least he came. Nick gets a gold star. Better luck next time, I hope. Toodles.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Well, I've finally picked a time and place for the great Toast. Anyone who's interested in either the toast, some good beer, or just bored, head on down to the Copper Mug at around 8ish and we'll try and congregate into a group of people. Hurrah! See you there!

Monday, March 12, 2007

We went to see 300 tonight, and I've got just one word for it: Wow. Probably the best fight seems in modern cinema, toss in some great acting and dialogue, and a visual feel that is incredibly unique and engaging. In essence, the film is basically a 2 hour fight scene, with a small bit of dialogue and background in the beginning, and then small chunks of the same throughout. But the battles are so well done, and aw striking, you'd never want to change anything. Spears are put through people, arms and legs are cut of. Men are beheaded, and though it sounds gruesome and barbaric, it's all so well done, believable, and works to demonstrate the strength and fines that is the Spartans. Oh, and there's giant elephants. There's regular sized elephants, and then there's giant elephants. These seemed rather giant. And a giant rhino.

Go see 300. Go see it now. I'm not talking to you until you get back from seeing 300. Why are you still here?!

Oh, something completely unrelated. I fully encourage anyone who reads to leave comments, but please leave your name so I know who you are, otherwise it's like there's someone in the witness protection program leaving a comment, and nobody likes those people. I'm sure if they were well liked they wouldn't be in the protection program to begin with, hmm?

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Wow. Um...Yeah. So apparently someone from work caught wind of my blog and read through it. Apparently they didn't like what they read. Apparently they brought my blog to the attention of the management at work. Apparently they didn't like me mentioning what I do, or talking about work or things related to it. Apparently I've been terminated. After almost a year and a half of providing great customer service for thousands of white computer users, I was terminated after writing about what I do and who I work for. All comments written, of course, on my blog. My personal web log.

So now what? I'm not sure. I need to find something else to do to earn that valuable and intangible representation of worth (Some people like to call it money). What's on that horizon? I dunno, maybe Nura Net. Maybe OTV, I hear they're looking for support peoples. We'll see.

But what do you think? Questions? Comments? Suggestion? Leave a comment or drop me a line. Lets hear from you!

Monday, March 5, 2007

Every year since 1993, on the 3rd Friday of every February is the Great Guinness Toast, the largest toast in the world, where people from all over North America, Europe, and lets hope Australia too because I like them allot, gather to raise a glass in the name of good times and great beer. And I missed it.

I missed the Toast last year too, and I swore I wouldn't miss it again. But I did anyway. Damn it all. So I shall swear, nay, PROCLAIM! That I shall not miss St. Practice Day (The day of the Great Guinness Toast) next year!

But that's a long ways off. So lets make up for lost time shall we? March 17th is St. Patrick's Day. Not that we need an excuse to drink. But on the 16th I shall be holding my very own St. Practice Day. Not only to make up for missing the last Toast, but to do a little warm-up before St. Patrick's Day. I invite one and all who know how to contact me to do so, as I'll be trying to get a hold of enough ale and stout for all who care to join me. Huzzah!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Well, It think I have a plan now. On Tuesday I went back to my high school, Walter Murray, and had a meeting with my old guidance councilor, Mr. Humbert. We talked about a bunch of things, mostly what I was talking about earlier in the week about university and things. He game me some great information, and told me to check out a website that the high school uses to help students get information on careers and things like that, called Career Cruiser. Well I checked it out, and after going over alto of information, having it tell me what I'm good at, and thinking about things for the past couple days, I think I've got a plan together.

I'm going to go to university to get a degree in computer science. From there I could probably go alto of directions. I could get a job working as a computer support person (A fancy term for the IT guy in an office or something like that), work as a repair technician, some sort of software dude, or, and this is what I think I'm really hoping for, move into education teaching computer-type courses, like Comp Sci in high school, work as some sort of instructor type dude in an office helping people learn to use their computers there and getting software going, or do any of those for a while then go back to school and go even farther in education, maybe even become a professor of computer science. How cool would that be?!So for now though, it's keep on working. I need to get some money built up, which means I need to cut back on my spending some. I might look at working at a place like Nura Net, an Apple Authorized Service Provider that also does retail work for Appley things. Who knows, but the plan is somewhat formulated. Hooray!

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

I finished reading the Halo Graphic Novel today. Great stuff I must say.

The third story in the book is about Sarge, following him as he escapes from the Flood. There isn't any dialog in this story, it's all art. And fantastic art at that, not only does it look great but it really tells the story very well even though there's no words to guide you along.

The last story is about New Mombasa, and what it was like before the Covenant invaded Earth. It also shows that the UNSC was filling earth with allot of propaganda about the war in space before the Covenant got to Earth.

Great art, great writing, great graphic novel. I really hope Bungie decides to pursue future volumes of the Halo Graphic Novel.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Monday, February 26, 2007

I want to go to university. The problem is I don't know what I want to go to university for. Pretty much all the friends of mine who've gone to university or presued other post-secondary education went with a pretty realized purpose. Pharmacy, paramedic, teaching. But I have no idea what I want to do. How did they know? They didn't just decide over night. And I'm pretty sure it would be a bad idea if I tried to do that. All I really know is that I want to go to university. Partly just for the sake of going. But I don't know what to go for, or what I want to do in the future. Do I want to be a teacher? A computer technician? A factory worker? I've always joked around that I want to be a professors of philosophy, sometimes it just seems silly, other times it seems like a pretty good idea. But who knows. I'm told that no matter what you do when you go to university, you pretty much go though 1-year of Arts and Science, kinda to see if you actually want to be there, and kinda to see if they want you around at all. I got to thinking tonight and it might not be a bad idea to do just a first year Arts and Science thing. Just to see what it's like, to have gone, and to have something to do. That's one of the biggest problems I have with where I'm at right now, I don't really have anywhere to go besides to work, and I'm going no where at work. If I went to university or some other 4+ year learning commitment, at least that's 4 years where I don't have to worry about what I'm doing or where I'm going, it's pretty planned out. But where do I go after that? And what am I studying for those 4+ years? I put in a call to my high school guidance councillor tonight, and I'm hoping I can talk to him about this stuff, I'm sure he can give me some information or direction. Maybe I can do the first year university thing and then go from there. Right now it's the closest thing to a plan I've got. If this was the 24th century this would be easy! I'd just join Star Fleet! Pretty much the only thing I know for sure is that I don't want to join the army. I certainly don't want to see combat, though I'm told if I join the reserves they ask if you want to go. But I don't think I could join the military. I don't do well when people are yelling at me. Oh well.

A new Metroid Metal track was released this weekend, it's the Prelude / Theme from super Metroid. The track basically continues the tradition of Metroid Metal by taking the title theme from Super Metroid as well as the Prelude theme, putting them together and rocking out. Great stuff as always.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

I went to see The Number 23 tonight. The film stars Jim Carey in probably his most well acted role to date. The film follows Jim's character Walter Sparrow as he dwells into the enigma that is the number 23, and slips into insanity as he slowly unravels the mystery that consumes him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and even though the year is young, it's certainly due to be one of the best films of 2007. I highly recommend this film to anyone with a theatre in their area, definitely worth the $9.75 admission price.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

I guess sometimes a regular silica gel pack or two just don't cut it, and you need silica to the eXtreme. I forget what exactly this thing game in, but as soon as I saw it I knew I needed to take a picture.

I work tech support. Sometimes it's great fun, sometimes it's the worst time ever, but most of the time it's somewhere in between. They outsource all their tech support though (Don't act surprised), so the company that handles that out here determines our work schedules. And they do a bit of a crappy job of it. I've been working in the call centre almost since it opened, so I'm one of the senior agents around, but they still see it fit to schedule everyone like they've been working for a week. Rarely will you be lucky enough to get the weekend of for more than a week in a row, and rarely will I be scheduled to get home earlier than 8:00 PM. So I work a split shift. The hours bite, but I get the weekend off at least. I work 8am to noon, then 4:15PM to 8:15 PM. So I've got alot of time in between those shifts. Sometimes I do little to nothing, but sometimes I find neat little things to amuse myself with. Today I found something quite neat. I found a series on YouTube called "I.". It's pretty interesting

"A video blog takes over a young man's life. A continuing interactive web series where subscribers' comments can affect the story."

Basicly, it's comparable to the Truman Show (The 1998 Jim Carey film), except that rather than the subject being oblivious to the cameras and the audience watching him, he's the only one who knows what's going on. It's a very well done series, and is very interesting. I really recommend checking it out.

Here's the first episode of I. You can find all the episodes on the I. channel here. Enjoy!